Congressman Jeff Flake will have to wait another month to find out if he may serve as chairman of a group seeking repeal of the Arizona Clean Elections Act.

Mr. Flake, a Republican from Arizona’s 6th District, is a likely candidate for re-election in 2004, and as such, may be prohibited under last year’s federal Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act from taking part in a voter initiative to repeal the state law that provides public funding for candidates for state offices.

A lawyer for the Republican Party in early March sought an advisory opinion from the Federal Elections Commission on whether Mr. Flake could serve as chairman of Stop Taxpayer Money for Politicians. Mr. Flake in the meantime stepped down as chairman of the group, which has filed organizational papers with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office but has not yet submitted an application for an initiative serial number that would allow it to begin collecting signatures to put the measure before voters.

An initiative to make a statutory change, such as repealing the Clean Elections Act, will require the collection of 122,612 signatures of registered voters by July 1, 2004, to appear on the 2004 general election ballot.

The dozen or so questions for which Benjamin Ginsberg, the GOP attorney, sought answers from the FEC also included an inquiry on whether the anti-Clean Elections effort could name U.S. Sen. John McCain in ads as a proponent of public funding for political campaigns.

The questions about Mr. McCain, an Arizona Republican, have fueled speculation in some quarters that Mr. Flake may challenge Mr. McCain for his Senate seat.

The FEC typically responds to requests for advisory opinions within 60 days, but the commission agreed the week of May 26 with Mr. Ginsberg to delay adopting positions on the Flake questions until the commission meets on July 10.